Development of Adaptable Cell LA-ICP-MS and Support for External Collaborations in the Elemental Analysis Facility at The Field Museum

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下。菲尔德博物馆元素分析设施的劳尔·杜苏比厄克斯和瑞安·威廉姆斯将把实验室的服务范围扩大到更广泛的考古学者。该设备包括一台带有能量色散光谱仪（SEM-EDS）的扫描电子显微镜和一台电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-MS）。ICP-MS能配备有两个激光器。其中一个激光器专门用于高通量小物体的采样，而第二个激光器，一个完全独特的，定制改造的设备，可容纳大型物体。最近又购置了两台便携式x射线射频仪器，用以对博物馆房内或外地的文物进行完全非侵入性的调查，从而补充了这一设备。该设施用于以非破坏性的方式确定各种材料的成分，包括主要，次要和微量元素，以解决与美洲，非洲，大洋洲，欧洲和亚洲的文化生产，互动和交流的考古学相关的问题，并推进以人类学收藏而闻名的田野博物馆的物质保护事业。元素分析设施为菲尔德博物馆社区以及来自芝加哥地区、中西部和世界各地的学者和学生提供服务。这个项目将发展我们与外部科学家的互动，通过提供财政支持来抵消旅行和住宿费用以及资助分析费用，以吸引高知名度的合作项目。实验室为学生提供了独特的训练机会。他们通过承担分析本身而进入分析过程，并在方法开发、数据的统计处理和解释方面接受培训。获得具有适应性单元的激光系统将扩大可能分析整个标本的工件范围，并减少仅选择小物体可能引入的样本偏差的风险。菲尔德博物馆现场实验室的存在为研究博物馆独特藏品中的文物创造了机会，这些文物不能轻易转移到外部分析设施。该项目的智力价值包括建立了来自世界各地的广泛的考古和民族学材料的新数据集，这些数据集直接为关于古代贸易和交换、技术及其与世界各地社会复杂性发展的关系的假设提供了依据。通过分享我们在古代材料调查方面的专业知识，并将领先的学者和研究生与博物馆广泛的收藏联系起来，并为他们提供分析这些独一无二的组合的工具，该项目将大大提高对文化生产在复杂社会发展中的作用的理解。这项研究的更广泛影响包括学生培训和公共教育。本项目集本科生和研究生的研究与培养于一体。这项研究的结果将为该机构未来的展览和教育活动提供信息，该机构每年为数十万学童和数百万游客提供教育。我们将致力于利用激光烧蚀ICP-MS来研究新材料和新问题，只要它有助于我们解决与文化和技术互动和交流有关的重要问题。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Laure Dussubieux and Ryan Williams of the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum will expand the services of the laboratories to a wide range of archaeological scholars. The facility includes a scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The ICP-MS can be fitted with two lasers. One of the lasers is dedicated to the sampling of small objects with a high throughput, whereas the second laser, a totally unique, custom-transformed apparatus, accommodates large objects. This equipment was complemented by the recent acquisition of two portable XRF instruments for totally non-invasive investigations of artifacts on the premises of the Museum or in the field. The facility is used to determine the composition, including major, minor, and trace elements, of a large range of materials in a non-destructive manner to address questions related to the archaeology of cultural production, interaction and exchange in the Americas, Africa, Oceania, Europe, and Asia and advancing the cause of material conservation of The Field Museums reknowned anthropology collections.The elemental analysis facility serves the Field Museum community as well as scholars and students from the Chicago area, the Midwest and throughout the world. This project will develop our interaction with outside scientists to attract high profile collaborative projects by offering financial support to offset travel and accommodation expenses as well as a subvention of analytical costs. The laboratory provides a unique training opportunity for students. They are initiated into the analytical process by undertaking the analysis itself and are trained in method development, the statistical processing of the data, and interpretation. The acquisition of a laser system with an adaptable cell will extend the range of artifacts possible to analyze to whole specimens and reduce the risk of biased samples that a selection of only small objects could introduce. The presence of an on-site laboratory at the Field Museum creates the opportunity to study artifacts from the unique collections of the museum that could not be moved easily to outside analytical facilities. The intellectual merits of the project include the establishment of extensive new datasets of archaeological and ethnological material from around the world that directly informs hypotheses about ancient trade and exchange, technology, and their relationship to the development of social complexity around the world. By sharing our expertise for the investigation of ancient material and linking leading scholars and graduate students to the museums extensive collections and giving them the tools to analyze these one of a kind assemblages, the project will significantly enhance understanding of the role of cultural production in the development of complex societies.The broader impacts of the research include student training and public education. This project integrates research and training of undergraduate and graduate students. Results of this research will inform future exhibits and education activities of the institution, which educate hundreds of thousands of school children and millions of visitors annually. We will focus our efforts in developing the use of laser ablation ICP-MS to investigate new materials and new issues as long as it helps us addressing important questions related to cultural and technological interaction and exchange.